As the first fully accredited representative of its
class, this new star made its entry upon the scene with becoming
?clat. It is characteristic of these phenomena that they burst into
view with amazing suddenness, and, of course, entirely unexpectedly.
Tycho's star appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia, near a now
well-known and much-watched little star named Kappa, on the evening of
November 11, 1572. The story has often been repeated, but it never
loses interest, how Tycho, going home that evening, saw people in the
street pointing and staring at the sky directly over their heads, and
following the direction of their hands and eyes he was astonished to
see, near the zenith, an unknown star of surpassing brilliance. It
outshone the planet Jupiter, and was therefore far brighter than the
first magnitude. There was not another star in the heavens that could
be compared with it in splendor. Tycho was not in all respects free
from the superstitions of his time -- and who is? -- but he had the
true scientific instinct, and immediately he began to study the
stranger, and to record with the greatest care every change in its
aspect. First he determined as well as he could with the imperfect
instruments of his day, many of which he himself had invented, the
precise location of the phenomena in the sky.
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